Assad-era general arrested over chemical attack

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s interior ministry on Friday announced the arrest of a general from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s era, accusing him of involvement in a 2013 chemical attack on a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

In August 2013, the army under Assad’s rule was accused of using chemical weapons to target areas then under rebel control, killing more than 1,400 men, women and children, according to United States intelligence and rights groups.

With Syria at the height of its civil war, the Assad government denied responsibility, but agreed to hand over its chemical arsenal in order to avert US strikes.

Assad went on to remain in power for more than a decade, only to be ousted in 2024 by Islamist-led rebels led by now President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

On Friday, the ministry said it arrested “Khardal Ahmed Dayoub, a former brigadier general in the forces of the ousted regime and former head of the Air Force Intelligence branch in Daraa, for his direct involvement in systematic violations against civilians.”

The ministry accused Dayoub of being “implicated in chemical attacks during his service in the Damascus branch and his presence in the Harasta area” where “he oversaw repressive operations and contributed to the logistical coordination for the bombing of Eastern Ghouta with internationally prohibited chemical weapons.”

Dayoub, among the latest in a string of Assad-era officials detained in recent months, is also accused of extrajudicial killings and coordination with Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, both of which were backing the ousted government.

Survivors of the attacks, including medics, at the time risked their lives by posting dozens of videos online, and spoke to journalists including Agence France-Presse reporters about the horror they had witnessed.

The footage showed dozens of corpses, many of them children, outstretched on the ground.

Other images showed unconscious children, people foaming at the mouth and doctors trying to help them breathe.